List of poor people not quite reliable

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A pedicab driver Awa, 33, says his family has not yet received any funds pledged by the government for the poor as compensation for the fuel price rises.

"Nobody from the office of the neighborhood chief has came to inform us about it. They usually come here only if they need money to support the neighborhood's activities," he told The Jakarta Post at his rented two by three meter shack in a slum area in Karang Satria, East Bekasi.

"Our lives have been getting more difficult following the rise in fuel prices. No one wants to struggle for us," he said.

Awa said his family and the families of 10 other pedicab drivers living in the area had not yet received any subsidized rice for the poor (popularly known as raskin) from the government. The rice is supposed to be distributed as part of the government's assistance program for the poor using "fuel compensation funds".

"Neither have our children been offered any educational scholarships," he said.

Awa is one of the many low-income earners in the country who meets the requirements for fuel compensation funds from the government. However, his name is apparently not on the official list of poor people.

Aren Jaya subdistrict head, East Bekasi Ade Multaman admitted that his office mostly relied on a reports issued by the neighborhood and community units when making out the list of poor families in the area.

"We received the data (on the poorest of the poor families) from the neighborhood and community units. Our team only randomly checks the validity of the data. We then issue a card stating the holder is entitled to receive assistance from the government," he said.

Based on the data provided by the neighborhood office and community units, the subdistrict office then makes up the lists of poor families in the area. The list is then sent to the regency office and on to central government through the governor's office.

The central government then distributes to the fuel compensation funds back through the chain of bureaucracy based on the data.

According to Ade, of the total of 13,000 families in Aren Jaya in 2004, about 1,100 families were now categorized as poor, a sharp increase compared to only 400 families in 2001.

Ade said his office had yet to receive any instructions from the Bekasi mayor's office concerning the disbursement of the new fuel compensation fund.

"I just watched it on TV. I don't know anything more about it," he told The Post.

The government has promised to allocate Rp 10.5 trillion of the Rp 20.3 trillion it will save by cutting the fuel subsidy to finance several programs directly targeted at the poor.

This Rp 10.5 trillion adds to the Rp 7.3 trillion already budgeted for programs to assist low-income families and individuals.

The majority of this Rp 17.8 trillion will go toward a scholarship program, the purchase of raskin, rural infrastructure projects and health programs.

Ade said that his office was still running the old program introduced by the previous government to distribute raskin to 1,100 poor families. Those who need such rice must take the commodity from the sub-district office by themselves, he said.

"As far the compensation funds for health service and scholarships are concerned, they are directly handled by related institutions," he said, referring to the Ministry of Health Affairs and the Ministry of National Education.

"So, I don't know how much money the government has disbursed for these two services and who the recipients are in my area," he said.

Ade said agencies that provided health and education assistance to the poor should report the progress of their programs to the subdistrict heads.

"We know that many parties have misused the assistance funds and we realize it is important that the subdistrict leaders know who the recipients of the education and health services are," he said.